You've now entered the blogging habitat of author Jay Mims. A place of occasional intelligence, overabundance of enthusiasm, and far too many bad jokes. It is The Mimsey Zone. Feel free to take photographs, but we do ask that you not feed The Mimsey.

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Friday, March 14, 2014

15 Months of Winter: A Mimsey Review

Greetings Gentle Readers,

I have a confession to make: I hate reviewing books. I've always been an avid reader, and even as a child I was always drawn to work that provided nuance and subtlety.

The problem has always been that I also strive for honesty. Most books I get asked to review (and trust me I get asked A LOT!) are just not in my wheelhouse. Thankfully, I do have the opportunity to do spotlights:

So imagine my trepidation when I find out a good friend is writing a book. Not only a book, but a memoir. I have a saying "Wherever two or more or gathered, one of them is a writer" and I should add an addendum: "And the other thinks their biography would be amazing!"

And, when I was reading the book, 15 Months of Winter I couldn't help but marvel at a master of sarcasm. It reminded me of that scene from A Christmas Story where the Dad is described as:

"My father worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium, a master"

Well folks, John Bayer is a master of sarcasm.

And the ocassional bon mot!

He doesn't just tell of the toils of being an Arizona native experiencing the rich culture of North Dakota. No, that would be too easy. This is a man who weaves a word picture so hilarious and engrossing that I had to read it twice just to catch all the jokes.

Not only was this book keeping me laughing, but I also genuinely wanted to visit Crosby, North Dakota.

Just, maybe not in winter.

It's hard to pinpoint which story is my favorite. On the one hand, I loved his stories about the people and places, and having grown up in the middle of nowhere would love to see the Threshing Bee.

This is a thresher. It threshes. Threshing is cool.

On the other hand, the time John was trapped in the house of a woman who LOVED strawberries, had me in tears.

I think if she'd ever heard of Strawberry Shortcake

her head would have exploded.

And I couldn't help but think, this would make an AMAZING MOVIE!

It practically sells itself!

When I was doing the dream casting for this flick, I thought "Who would capture that John Bayer sarcasm?" And then it hit me FREAKS AND GEEKS! I could just see Judd Apatow bringing the sharp wit of The Bayer to the screen. So, who should play John?

All of them?

Well, my first thought was Seth Rogen. Because seriously that dude is hysterical, and can work sarcasm like nobody I've seen. Or Jason Segel who can bring both physical comedy AND awesome screen presence. Or, hey? James Franco is in EVERYTHING! Then it hit me. There's only one person who perfectly encapsulates both the wit and sarcasm of John Bayer while also bringing in the target audience for a flick like this:

And tune in tomorrow when I do a very Mimsey interview with the one and only John Bayer!

Jay Mims writes books, blogs, and enjoys playing in the snow. Jay and The Mimsus live with a
passive-aggressive Dalek named Steve, and have semi-adopted their neighbor's
cat named Eartha Kitty. There's another cat named Meowthazar,
but he's not as interesting. Also a Lizard that Jay calls Bob. Jay
is far funnier on Facebook then in real life. He is terrible at Twitter.